438 MASSANGANO. 



each plant had thirty-six leaves, which were eighteen inches long 

 by six or eight inches broad. But it is not a pastoral district. In 

 our descent we observed the tsetse, and consequently the people 

 had no domestic animals save goats. 



We found the town of Massangano on a tongue of rather high 

 land, formed by the left bank of the Lucalla and right bank of 

 the Coanza, and received true Portuguese hospitality from Senhor 

 Lubata. The town has more than a thousand inhabitants ; the 

 district has 28,063, with only 315 slaves. It stands on a mound 

 of calcareous tufa, containing great numbers of fossil shells, the 

 most recent of which resemble those found in the marly tufa close 

 to the coast. The fort stands on the south side of the town, on 

 a high perpendicular bank overhanging the Coanza. This river 

 is here a noble stream, about a hundred and fifty yards wide, ad- 

 mitting navigation in large canoes from the bar at its mouth to 

 Cambambe, some thirty miles above this town. There, a fine 

 waterfall hinders farther ascent. Ten or twelve large canoes laden 

 with country produce pass Massangano every day. Four galleons 

 were constructed here as long ago as 1650, which must have been 

 of good size, for they crossed the ocean to Bio Janeiro. 



Massangano district is well adapted for sugar and rice, while 

 Cambambe is a very superior field for cotton ; but the bar at the 

 mouth of the Coanza would prevent the approach of a steamer 

 into this desirable region, though a small one could ply on it with 

 ease when once in. It is probable that the objects of those who 

 attempted to make a canal from Calumbo to Loando were not 

 merely to supply that city with fresh water, but to afford facilities 

 for transportation. The remains of the canal show it to have been 

 made on a scale suited for the Coanza canoes. The Portuguese 

 began another on a smaller scale in 1811, and, after three years" 

 labor, had finished only 6000 yards. Nothing great or useful will 

 ever be effected here so long as men come merely to get rich, and 

 then return to Portugal. 



The latitude of the town and fort of Massangano is 9° 37' 46" 

 S., being nearly the same as that of Cassange. The country be- 

 tween Loanda and this point being comparatively flat, a railroad 

 might be constructed at small expense. The level country is 

 prolonged along the north bank of the Coanza to the edge of 

 the Cassange basin, and a railway carried thither would be con- 



